On the win­try and lone­ly hill­side,
All in the dim star­light,
Shepherds ov­er the flock were keep­ing
Watch at the dead of night;
When swift an­gels of light came down,
And earth with ho­san­nas rang;
Harps of gold and che­ru­bic voic­es
Loudly and cheer­ily sang
At Beth­le­hem:

Refrain

Glory to God in the high­est,
And on earth peace, good­will to men.

Earth was wrapped in a robe of win­ter:
Kindly the new-fall’n snow
Drew the veil of a vir­gin white­ness
Pure ov­er guilt and woe.
Beasts of prey on the froz­en mount­ain,
Flocks on the charm­èd plain,
Nature all, in en­tranc­èd rap­ture,
Listened to that sweet strain
From Beth­le­hem:

Refrain

Proudly march­ing along the for­um,
Priests with a pom­pous train,
Closed the gates of the Ro­man Ja­nus
Under a Cæ­sar’s reign.
Everywhere, and in ev­ery na­tion,
War, with its car­nage grim,
Shouts and groans, and the roar of bat­tle,
Ceased for the an­gel’s hymn
At Beth­le­hem:

Refrain

Lo! each ora­cle of the hea­then
Soon dis­en­chant­ed proves:
Through the gloom of the dark Dodo­na,
Dumb are the oak­en groves;
Dumb the voice of Ap­ol­lo’s priest­ess,
Delphi is left for­lorn;
All the realms of the de­mons tremb­le,
Knowing their con­qu’ror born
At Beth­le­hem:

Refrain

Wide and wid­er at ev­ery Christ­mas
Echoes the joy­ful sound;
From Ju­dea the glad good tid­ings
Now run the wide world round.
Sing, then sing, for the list­en­ing an­gels,
Bending on ea­ger wing,
Join us now in the roy­al chor­us
They were the first to sing
At Beth­le­hem:

Refrain